Character Capital

In 2024's least surprising news, @jakek and I finally started a podcast!!! What's it called? Jake & JZ! When does it come out? Every Thursday! What's it about? Startups, design, marketing, technology… and whatever else we’re thinking about 🤓 Where can I get a very respectful weekly email about new episodes and link to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts? jakeandjz.com

🔥 Character Labs is BACK by popular demand — applications are open now until July 19 for pre-seed founders building in AI.

Jake Knapp (@jakek) and John Zeratsky (@jazer) are authors of the bestselling books Sprint and Make Time. They have helped more than 300 teams design new products and bring them to market, including teams at @YouTube, @SlackHQ, @MiroHQ, @LEGO_Group, @NASA, and many more. They are also co-founders of the venture capital firm @CharacterVC, where they support startups with capital and sprints. In our conversation, we focus on tactics for making time for what matters, including: 🔸 Creating one “highlight” each day 🔸 Avoiding “busy bandwagon” and “infinity pools” 🔸 Their four-part framework for productivity 🔸 How to use the calendar to design your day 🔸 How creating friction can help you avoid distractions 🔸 Tips on creating a distraction-free phone 🔸 Strategies for managing email and distractions 🔸 The importance of reflecting on the day and making time for meaningful work 🔸 Design sprints 🔸 Much more

Some big news! I’m now a full-time general partner at Character AND applications are open for Character Labs, our 4-week sprint program for startups. It took 15 years (!) to get to this moment; here's the story:

VC subsight 300/365: Character Labs is BACK! character.vc/labs What: four-week sprint program for AI founders. Rapidly accelerate PMF through sequence of back-to-back sprints to validate product and GTM hypotheses

I've been waiting a year for this... Character Labs is BAAAAAACK! ICYMI, Labs is our four-week sprint program for AI founders. Like an accelerator, but 100% focused on product-market fit.

We're excited to (finally!) announce our investment in @inductive_bio!

Thanks to @mhbergen for telling the story of portfolio company Orbital Materials!

Seeing a fourth type of AI founder emerge... 4. The Distributors — understand how to put AI tech in the hands of customers within a specific sector. Especially important for late-adopter customers where applications of mainstream tools (e.g. ChatGPT) are not obvious.

Three types of AI founders: (a mini thread based on what we're seeing and investing in at @CharacterVC; thx to @eliblee for being a great thought partner on this)

Applications for Character Labs are due this weekend! If you're working on something new, and want to sprint with our team on product-market fit, we'd love for you to consider applying. DM us if you have any questions about the program!

@koalluh was in the first CL cohort, and it truly gave us a running start. You get personalized support, funding, & strategic guidance from the minds behind Google's 5-Day Sprint method.🧠 (cc @jazer @jakek @eliblee) Highly recommend to folks early in their startup journey!!

Super excited to announce Character Labs, our multi-week sprint bootcamp for pre-seed founders.✨ character.vc/labs This session is optimized for AI.🤖

Two years ago, I started @CharacterVC with @eliblee and @jakek. So far, we've invested in 20+ companies and worked closely with the founders (using our Sprint method from GV) to help them de-risk product/GTM fast. Now we're expanding with a new program called Character Labs...

Character Labs is our new sprint program for pre-seed founders. It's 100% focused on accelerating progress toward product-market fit. Applications are now open. character.vc/labs

We're excited to partner with @GVteam in backing @alexanderingram and the entire @giftwithzest team!

New blog post, about the relationship between craft and invention: jazer.medium.com/craft-inventio…

Before and after. Love lighting these up on the @CharacterVC website 🤩

Congratulations to the Highnote team!

Congratulations to portfolio company @headsupai, announcing their $8M seed round today!